Expressions and significances of autophagy-related genes Beclin-1, p62 and LC3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the expressions and significances of autophagy-related genes Beclin-1, LC3 and p62 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:The clinical data of 112 patients with primary ESCC who underwent surgery at the 81st Group Army Hospital of Chinese PLA from January 2015 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expressions of Beclin-1, p62 and LC3 proteins in 112 ESCC tissues and 31 adjacent normal esophageal mucosa tissues. Furthermore, the expressions of the above three autophagy-related markers in ESCC and the relationship between their expressions and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients were analyzed.Results:The positive expression rates of Beclin-1, LC3 and p62 in ESCC tissues were 32.14% (36/112), 37.50% (42/112) and 63.39% (71/112), The positive expression rates of Beclin-1, LC3 and p62 in adjacent normal esophageal mucosa tissues were 61.29% (19/31), 64.52% (20/31) and 32.26% (10/31), and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2 values ??were 8.715, 7.216 and 9.584, all P < 0.01). The positive expression rates of Beclin-1 and LC3 in ESCC were lower than those in adjacent normal esophageal mucosa tissues, and the positive expression rate of p62 in ESCC was higher than that in adjacentnormal esophageal mucosa tissues. In ESCC patients, the expression of Beclin-1 was related to histological grade, infiltration depth, TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (all P < 0.05); the expression of LC3 was related to infiltration depth and TNM staging (both P < 0.01); the expression of p62 was related to lymph node metastasis ( P < 0.01). In ESCC, the expression of LC3 was positively correlated with the expression of Beclin-1 ( r = 0.731, P = 0.001), and negatively correlated with the expression of p62 ( r = -0.215, P = 0.023). Conclusions:Autophagy plays a certain role in the occurrence and development of ESCC. Combined detection of autophagy-related genes Beclin-1, p62 and LC3 can assist clinical diagnosis and guide follow-up comprehensive treatment.